Apple is closing many retail stores as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to peak – on December 20, it temporarily closed all locations in California, Mexico, Brazil and more than a dozen in London. Now, while England and Scotland are entering a pair of new national locks, Apple is closing all of its remaining UK stores.
Like 9to5MacAccording to Michael Steeber, this means that 18 additional stores are closed across the UK, including several in Scotland and one in Belfast, Ireland – although it appears that the Belfast store has already been closed. (Northern Ireland entered into a block even earlier, on December 26, closing all non-essential stores.)
All 18 Apple stores in the UK open today will close on January 5. Includes all locations in Scotland. Most of the other 20 stores closed just before the holiday. pic.twitter.com/RYfhWgNkrb
– Michael Steeber (@MichaelSteeber) January 4, 2021
While the closings seem worth watching, they may not make much of a difference to more shoppers, who haven’t been able to physically enter many of these stores since November. That’s when Apple started offering express service only at many of these stores. You could take orders online, but you couldn’t browse.